she admitted, thinking this might well be the moment he tossed that red folio back into his briefcase and walked out of the hotel room.
“We had something better than love.”
“Only you would think a contract made up for an emotional connection.”
“We were connected.”
“In bed.”
“And out of it. We got along, Chloe. You complemented my life. I made yours more interesting.”
Perhaps he had known her better than she’d thought. “And this time you’re not offering marriage.”
“Not at first, no.” There was something in his expression she couldn’t read, but she thought maybe she didn’t need to.
“You don’t trust me.”
“Do you trust me?” he asked.
She thought about it. She hadn’t … when she’d left him, she hadn’t trusted him at all. Or she would have stayed to talk it out as he’d planned to do.
Did she trust him now? Two years on and hopefully wiser. “You’re like my father in more ways than I thought in the beginning.”
“But not his mirror image. I will be a true papa to my children. Not like my father, not like yours.”
In this, Chloe believed Ariston completely. “You had one of the best role models.”
“Pappous. Yes.”
“I wonder how your father turned out the way he did?” she mused.
“Nature over nurture.”
Chloe had to agree. Takis would never have raised his son to be so congenitally selfish. “Bad genes somewhere back in the family line.”
“Everyone has them.”
“No doubt.”
“Will you risk it?”
Would she? Risk going after what she wanted when she knew heartbreak might well be at the end of her journey? “My sister?”
“I’ll do my best by her. I’ll even require couples counseling between her and her husband as part of the deal if that will make you feel better.”
Chloe laughed, but nodded. “You know, I think it would. Neither of us grew up with a role model for what constitutes a good marriage.”
“Then it will be done.” He got up and walked purposefully to his briefcase.
He pulled out a pen and then grabbed the red bound document. Flipping it open, he leafed through the pages until he reached the one he was looking for. Then, he wrote something on a page about a quarter of the way in.
“You’re really adding that?”
“Yes.”
“I’ll do it.”
“To guarantee your sister gets marriage counseling?” Ariston asked with some amusement.
“To give her the best hope at happiness in her future. Sinking under the burden of Dioletis Industries isn’t it.”
“Tell her. Forty-eight hours.” Ariston tossed the red folio back to Chloe.
She caught it. “What if Rhea wants clarification, or to negotiate?”
“It’s completely unambiguous, but she can call if she has a question. As for negotiation, she’s got nothing I want.”
“You said you wanted me.” After the mind-blowing sex they’d shared the night before, she knew that was still true.
“On your terms, not hers.” He settled back onto the bed beside Chloe, his fingertip tracing the edge of the sheet covering her breasts. “If you have stipulations, I will listen to them.”
She pushed his hand away, unable to think while he was doing that. “Are you going to keep Dioletis Industries as its own concern?”
It wasn’t a stipulation. She was just curious. More so than she’d thought she’d be. Again she thought Ariston might know her better than she’d given him credit for, maybe even better than she knew herself in some instances.
“The company will retain its name, but will become a subsidiary of SSE. I will be requiring a much bigger block of shares this time around. Major restructuring will have to take place to make the company profitable again.”
“Rhea said as much.”
He nodded. “I can’t guarantee all the employees will keep their current positions, but I will keep as many within Dioletis Industries as possible. Those that lose their places entirely will be put in my company’s job reassignment program. Eighty percent of the employees placed in the program find new employment within Spiridakou and Sons Enterprises.”
“Thank you.”
He shrugged. “It is what you came to me for, isn’t it? To keep people employed.”
“Yes.” But mostly for Rhea, though Chloe was aware that made her every bit as self-serving as the next person. “Will Rhea retain a position within the company?”
She couldn’t make it a condition of the agreement, not with so many people’s livelihoods, not to mention Rhea’s own future, riding on Ariston’s goodwill. However, Chloe couldn’t help hoping he would show her sister more mercy than her own father had ever shown either of his daughters.
“She will be CEO, but the job will alter significantly with the takeover. She’ll work with a